Cargo is piling up at the border with Benin, the news agency has reported
Thousands of trucks carrying food bound for Niger have been stuck for weeks at the Malanville crossing in northern Benin due to border closures and sanctions imposed on the new military government in Niamey, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Benin’s Malanville checkpoint is said to be one of the busiest in West Africa, with a high volume of transit goods, including humanitarian aid products passing through into neighboring Niger.
Traffic at the crossing is reportedly at a standstill, with a line of loaded trucks stretching back 25 kilometers “from the muddy shores of the Niger River that marks the frontier,” Reuters reported. Some small traders are said to be using wooden boats to transport goods across the river into the country, evading border guards.
“We don’t know if we’ve been taken hostage or what,” a Nigerien driver told the agency, who said he had been stranded at the border with his cargo of sugar and oil for more than 20 days. “There’s no food, there’s no water, there’s nowhere to sleep,” he added.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) restricted financial transactions and blocked entry into Niger from its member states in order to force the July 26 coup plotters to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned last week that the blockade was “greatly affecting the supply of vital foods and medical supplies into Niger,” where it claimed at least 3.3 million people were already “acutely food-insecure” prior to the coup.
Read more
